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"Downtown Crossing" isn't fancy enough for new condo project
By adamg on Sun, 03/28/2010 - 4:48pm
John Ford reports that 45 Province St., the fancy-shmancy new building where the Littlest Bar used to be, is listing itself on MLS as "Beacon Hill" rather than "Downtown Crossing" - but on a competing service, LINK, as "Midtown."
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Comments
Huh?
I thought the young kids were calling it "the DTX." I may have made that up on my own, though.
I've seen that a fair amount
At least, on Twitter, which doesn't say much, I guess. Whatever happened to "the Ladder District"?
Let's be Honest...
If you were trying to sell a pretty expensive condo, would you want to advertise it as in a "neighborhood" that has become associated with a very large, very ugly hole in the ground and large, roving groups of bored kids at all hours? (I wrote "neighborhood" because I think of Downtown Crossing as more of a commercial district than a neighborhood - as for the kids, where the hell are the Boston truancy officers anyway?) Methinks you would try to come up with another name too, no matter how Manhattany or real estate agent gibbery it might sound, if many hundreds of thousands of dollars or more were on the line.
I for one am completely sick
I for one am completely sick of all the real estate bullshit. Boston is basically a giant turd that these realtors keep trying to find new ways to polish.
well if we're going for RE BS
"Formerly Part of the Royal Governor's Gardens"
(because there's no way Province St is anywhere near Beacon Hill, even here in the land of "I used to be in the South End, now I'm in the Back Bay & I didn't even have to move")
Orpheum District? Suffolk Law District?
Those are the most prominent nearby landmarks I can think of.
Bullfinch Area
Capitol District or Granary District might play too.
Theatre District
Sounds nice. Like there is one. Makes Boston sound nicer even for people who don't live in the "Theatre District."
It's sorta near Beacon Hill
I wouldn't say it's "nowhere near Beacon Hill." My understanding is that the border of Beacon Hill is Tremont Street, so it's sorta down the street from across the street from Beacon Hill. Although 500 feet can be a lot in a reasonably dense part of a city like Downtown Crossing.
And since Downtown Crossing really hasn't been residential for a long time, it's not quite the same thing as turning the South End into the Back Bay.
Residential downtown
What I still find surprising, because my brain holds fast to ideas long after they're no longer accurate, is just how residential Downtown Crossing (there, I said it) is these days - even before 45 Province. There could be several thousand people living there now (and where the hell do they get their groceries?). During a licensing-board hearing on this rental project, a nearby resident even talked about the children who live in the area. And she meant actual children, not Emerson students.
Groceries
Yep, there are kids and families in the highrises. I've visited quite a few of them to assess their toddlers' development. It's actually one of the more diverse areas in terms of housing -- on the same street I've been to housing-project-type high rises and ritzy doorman buildings with kitchens where I wouldn't know what half of the appliances do.
Not sure though why one would single out this neighborhood as one where someone can't walk quickly to a full grocery store -- that describes most of the city. I live in a neighborhood that one does think of as residential, and I'm almost a mile from the nearest store (the crappy Stop and Shop on Centre and the nice Stop and Shop in Mission Hill are about equidistant), or I can get on the orange line and go two stops to the round Whole Foods near Symphony Hall or the Trader Joe's on Boylston. Or take the 66 bus to the TJ's in Coolidge Corner. Someone downtown can walk to the Boylston TJ's a little quicker than I can or can take the train to any of the aforementioned stores.
Yea Well
That area is still Downtown Crossing.....
So what? It's just a name.
So what? It's just a name.
Before Downtown Crossing?
OK, I'm dating myself but I think of Downtown Crossing as a name that was invented 20-30 years ago, around the time they re-routed the Orange line & renamed the station from Washington St. to Downtown Crossing.
What was it called before that? Maybe it didn't have a catchy name - we referred to that area as in town or maybe downtown.
Everything from the 80s is Bad
Yes, the name was definately coined and, tellingly, in the late 1980s. The re-naming of Washington Street (the T Station) to Downtown Crossing was supposed to turn the whole place into a new, vibrant, district (again) despite the decision only 10-15 years prior to zone the nearby streets of Chinatown as the only permissible operating district for red-light business. I still like to think of the T Station as Washington Street and I still begrudge the removal of the wooden escalators from the red line platform (yes, this in the 1980s). Before that, I believe the "district" was just called "downtown," as opposed to its near neighbors, the financial district, the garment district, Chinatown, Beacon Hill, and Government Center. If the ladder district was in there somewhere, I'm sure someone will let me know, but I'm admittedly hazy on where (or what) the ladder district is/was. Can't we just go back to calling it downtown? Downtown Crossing is, and always was, horrible (as a name). As it is getting better as a place (forgetting the hole for a momemnt) with the renovation of all the old theaters maybe its time for a re-re-branding.
Wooden Escalators
You mean, like the ones at King's Cross?
There were some very good reasons to (finally!) get rid of them.
A nostalgia and fire trap all in one!
Your memory is hazy.
The Reno-style escalators from the Red Line to Chauncy Street were removed in the 1990's.
The name "Downtown Crossing" dates from the 1970's and Mayor Kevin White's urban renewal efforts.
And folks--Beacon Hill does not stop at the top. There's a commercial slope which includes the Courts, the state office buildings, the Boston Atheneaum, and arguably 1-3 Center Plaza.
Here's a thought: Why not revive the name Scollay Square?
From my point of view, as
From my point of view, as someone in the condo-buying, bs-savvy generation, is that there is a giant freaking park between DTX and beacon hill.
"The foot of Beacon Hill"
IIRC, the original marketing materials for 45 Province said that it was at the "foot of Beacon Hill".
No idea if that's technically true, but they've probably continued encroaching till they're king of the mountain.
Calling that location "Beacon
Calling that location "Beacon Hill" is a huge stretch. I can live with "Midtown".
Who cares what neighborhood it's in?!
I think the fact that the building is across from Chacarero and Sam Lagrassa's should sell itself!
Midtown?
No, not midtown. Another attempt to 'Manhattanize" Boston. "Sowa" still makes me want to throw up. "Sowa". It even sounds silly.